Manure Question

[Too Tall Toms]

I swear I posted this here but I can't seem to find it.

I have my compost bin filled nicely. Last weekend I added about 30 gallons of horse manure. Since then the temp of the bin is only 80 degrees. I'm scheduled to pick up alpaca manure and rabbit manure over the weekend but I'm hesitant to add it to the bin because of not being able to get the temp in the area where the manures would compost properly.

What would happen if I just add the alpaca and rabbit manure to the pile and not concern myself with the temperature? I'm not going to do anything with the compost until it's time to add it to my tomato garden.

Also, I have a source for chicken manure but I've been reading that chicken manure takes longer to compost.

[Skaggydog]

Compost happens! You could not stop it if you tried. 30 gallons, how much is that? I would pick up all the manure that I could if it was free. If you don't want it in that pile make another. Oh! You said bin! You don't need no stinkin' BIN.

[Skaggydog]

P.S. Dose your compost have enough air and water?

[Too Tall Toms]

I did water it when I first added the horse manure. At the time I added the horse manure I also added some kitchen scraps and I also added dead/dried flowers and other garden debris. I watered it then. Thinking that maybe I needed more water and air, I turned it till my arms hurt and I added more water.....it really did look like it needed more.

With rain in the forecast, I covered the top of the pile. I didn't want the rain to soak it too much. Before I leave for work tomorrow morning, I'm going to uncover it.....it's supposed to be nice and sunny for the next few days.

[Too Tall Toms]

Another question is how long do manures need to compost before you can add them to a garden? I'm just afraid of having different manures in my compost bin and I wouldn't be able to use the compost in my garden in the spring.

[Elizabeth]

I don't know if there is a technical way, but I figure compost with manure is done when it stops being stinky and smells nice and earthy. If there is any ammonia kind of smell to it, it's not done. If you add manure to your compost now it will almost certainly be done by spring planting time.

[Too Tall Toms]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth

I don't know if there is a technical way, but I figure compost with manure is done when it stops being stinky and smells nice and earthy. If there is any ammonia kind of smell to it, it's not done. If you add manure to your compost now it will almost certainly be done by spring planting time.

Even if the compost doesn't get hot enough???

[biscgolf]

this time of year i wouldn't even worry about composting the manures... they will be fine by spring... particularly horse poop which isn't very "hot" to begin with..

[Too Tall Toms]

So does that mean I can even add alpaca and rabbit manure to the pile and it'll be good to go come spring time??
Does the same go for chicken manure? Because I have a chicken manure source lined up.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

The standard minimum is 90 days between application of manure (to field) and harvest, for herbivore manures.

In practicle terms I'd want to apply poultry or swine manure to a compost bin first. Its stinky-er, its hotter when applied to field direct, its got a bigger bacterial load, I'm happier with it being composted first.

If your bins not hot (yet), don't worry. This too will pass.

Pile it on. If it was alive, it will rot.

[Too Tall Toms]

Even if my pile doesn't heat up another degree past 80F I'll have good-to-go compost come April/May?

Sorry for being so repetitive but I just want to be absolutely sure I won't kill my tomatoes come planting time.

[Too Tall Toms]

Well I was quite surprised this morning.....

Before I went to bed around 1am, I went outside to check my compost bin. The temp was 85F and that made me happy. Earlier yesterday it was around 80F and I aerated it. Well when I woke up, the temperature was at 90F!
Finally! It seems to be heating up!

[Too Tall Toms]

I got alpaca manure and rabbit manure this morning. I'll add it to the bin as well as all of the shredded leaves I made yesterday.

This morning the compost temp was around 105F. Things are looking up!

[TomNJ]

Try to get some greens in there with the manure, especially grass clippings, a it will heat up faster.

TomNJ

[Too Tall Toms]

I've been adding the daily veggie and fruit scraps plus morning coffee grounds. I was actually thinking of going to Starbucks tonight and getting all of the coffee grounds they have. That should heat up the compost pretty quick.

I read somewhere that coffee grounds should be about 20% of the volume of the compost pile. Since I started the compost pile a while ago, I've added 50-60 pounds of Starbucks grounds.
Would more grounds hurt? The grass stopped growing around these parts of Pennsylvania